Aging & Society: Eighth Interdisciplinary Conference

Abstract

How do midlife men experience the process of ageing during an economic crisis? Drawing on in-depth interviews with twenty Greek men, aged from forty to sixty, the research explores personal identity, body image, health, sexuality, and social status. The variables include social class, work status, education, marital status, and inter-cultural factors, related to migration. The research explores loss in an actual as well as symbolic level, and how perceptions of the self, including those of growing older, change due to the economic crisis. There is also a discussion of relevant themes, such as whether participants’ future plans and expectations are shaped differently as a direct result of the crisis, how the changes in their professional and social roles re-shape their sense of self, and how their views about personal appearance and attractiveness are affected in that context. The paper builds on my previously published work on ageing, and purports to articulate an accurate and methodologically sound account of midlife men’s experience of growing older.